PRESENTING!!!! The SchnegelWagon!!!! A video debut….

Here ya go! For your viewing pleasure! (Please excuse the downgraded video, it was much better but we had to compress it to get it to load to YouTube.) Thanks, Leah for videoing & Dade for editing!

I love my family….. :)

Special thanks to: Mom, Corben, and Ryan for all your lyric writing madness, Blake P. for mixin’ the song up for us, Teresa H. for costumes, Lowes for free boxes, Leah S. for videoing, and Dade for working so hard on the final production. – He wants me to let people know he made a version with a complete music overlay and much better quality graphics but I like the live version. Thanks everyone!!

7-25-2010 Week in Review….

Monday….um, yeah, I don’t remember. Probably cleaning as is the norm. Oh, I remember, I had SchnegelWagon on the brain. What’s Schnegelwagon?? Well, you may have seen the Swagger Wagon video on YouTube. It’s a commercial for the Sienna SE. They announced Sunday at church that there would be a talent show at the Pioneer Day celebration and I suddenly realized we could do a Covered Wagon version!! Let’s just say, that despite any other events this week, it was all that was on my mind. I knew I didn’t have time to write the entire song with all else I had on my plate (kids, life, props, photoshoots, Dade’s surgery, etc.) so I asked my amazing mom to help. She was right on top of it. My mom rocks.

Tuesday started EARLY!! Lucky for me I am blessed with an amazing neighbor who dragged herself and her daughter over to my house before they should have even been out of bed to watch the kids for me, all day! Dade was having surgery to fix a plethora of nasal issues. He’s had chronic sinus issues since he was small and finally decided he’d had enough and wanted it all fixed! So, here he is, preparing to have FIVE procedures done, including drilling new holes for his sinuses….I know….gross. Here’s a BEFORE nose shot, too.

Dade’s biggest fear with all of this was getting an IV so he was relieved to hear that Linda was the number one IV giver on the floor…..that is until Linda discovered that Dade was a bit dehydrated and she failed TWICE!! I thought she was going to cry but then Donna swept in and saved the day…then i was SURE Linda was going to cry. Suddenly it was the battle of who was Dade’s favorite nurse and he was bathed in Superman stickers and warm blankets. Though he teased a bit, Linda’s soft heart won and she was so excited when he asked to have his picture taken with her.

Dade’s surgery took a couple of hours and he had quite the time waking up afterwards. He really wanted to wake up and was cracking me up with his jokes and sleepiness. I was so impressed with him as he called each nurse by name and thanked them. Never once did he complain about ANYTHING!! We were finally on our way home later that afternoon. Dade had to wear a gauze taped beneath his nose to catch all the blood. Not a single complaint…..

The next day was spent taking care of Dade as he continued to show off the amazing young man he is. So kind to everyone and still no complaints. He was even willing to help with his chores until we discovered that any exertion makes his nose bleed horribly. He was still willing to try to help. Thanks, Dade.

Thursday I was hard at work trying to figure out our act. Ryan had somehow agreed to help. This in itself is a MIRACLE. This isn’t his sort of thing…. Anyway, he suggested that we prerecord it so that everyone could hear when we started laughing or when we messed up. It was a genius idea but how could we do it? Well, that’s where friends with recording studios in their upstairs come in handy! Thanks, Blake! I tried to offer him brownies or cookies as payment but he swore that the laughs were well worth the effort. Here’s Ryan layin’ down his sweet track….

Friday I was frantic to find a cart. I had planned on doing it out of cardboard but Ryan though we should just get a real cart. No luck there so I was ecstatic when I found a Lowes who would give me some appliance boxes for FREE!! I had just enough time between our box pickup and the impending rain to get them done. They even have chrome spinners!! (You can click on this pic to see it bigger….)

Saturday started EARLY with a fun photoshoot. I can’t show you pics yet but they are some of my new favorites…..sigh.

I then RUSHED home and had enough time to change into my costume and head out with my family to church. Thanks, Mom, for coming early and helping my family get ready without me!

Have I mentioned what an amazing trooper my son is? He headed out the door without a single second thought about what people would think. He’s taking this nose surgery very seriously and is cool enough to do what he has to do and not care what people think. He’s awesome.

Here’s the kids grinding their own wheat. Ella LOVED it. It’s a sensory thing.

Then it was TALENT TIME!! Corben broke in the crowd to our family’s kind of talents when he played Gently Sleep on is recorder….through his nose!! It was awesome and no one saw it coming!

Finally, it was our turn….Ryan started out with his special intro he’d written and then the music began!!

This is me and my mean rappin’ skills…..

Ryan is spinnin’ his chrome prairie spinners!!

When it was all said and done, I was really proud of my family for being so cool. I am truly blessed!

I know, you’re hoping to SEE THE VIDEO. Well, I have it and it’s even been enhanced with sub-titles….it’s just taking a LONG time to upload to YouTube. A LONG TIME….really. You’ll be the first to see it when it’s ready!

Sunday was awesome. I moved the wagon and Boxen (as we affectionately call our Ox) into the primary in a guise to be the coolest Primary chorister EVER! I put names of songs on all the spaces on the wheels with a red arrow pointing to each wheel. The kids spun the back wheel to figure out if we were singing a practice song or a fun song and spun the front wheel to figure to which fun song to sing. It worked out so well! I especially loved when we say The Oxcart since I had brought the best prop EVER for that song. The wheels even moved. To add to the fun the junior primary sang like NEVER BEFORE. They could be heard through the entire building (and probably outside). Do big props equal big singing?? (There were even 3 year olds sitting with their hands over their ears….) (Thanks to Leah for the pic below….she’s a rockin’ photographer!)

Sunday evening Ryan left for several days to work. We miss him already…..

7-11-2010, 7-18-2010 Weeks in Review…..

Ryan found out when he woke up this morning that he had the day off due to the fact he worked all Friday!!

SO WE WENT TO THE BEACH!!!

I KNOW!! You’re shocked, I’m shocked….we’re all shocked! Ryan doesn’t even LIKE the beach & we even left at NOON!! We had so much fun….we spent just enough time at the beach, went to a local park & roasted hot dogs for supper and were home just after the kids’ bed time. GO US!! (Now, most of the pics I took are actually with a FILM camera…I know, weird, right?…so I have to figure out how to get them developed and such and then scan them…..sigh.)

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Tues – I actually PAID the slave labor to babysit and clean so I could Relax all Day and Eat BonBons….no wait, that was what I WANTED to do….I actually worked on photos ALL DAY LONG……sigh. I was also informed that my children gave the Fever to EVERYONE….sorry.

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Thurs – I sent my son off on his first amazing adventure to Youth Conference. Youth Conf. is a 3 day event for youth ages 14 – 18 where they go learn gospel lessons from AMAZING speakers (most of who were flown in) and have fun getting to know other church youth in the area. They even fit in two dances and the entire event took place at ECU college. Dade had a GREAT time! I was so glad he got to go. I have such fond memories of my days of going to Youth Conf. He even took a few pictures (with no flash because he thought it would be rude….) and my FIL happened to be there and snapped a few as well! Here’s Dade with Justin Bieber….or some kid Dade wanted his friends to THINK was Justin Bieber….

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The next day, while Dade was partying church style, I was spending good time with my wonderful neighbor who I adore. I never want to move….

Ryan came home early today and took Sylvie out shopping with him. When they came back, Sylvie gave me flowers!!

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Dade got home Saturday sick from all the junk food and exhausted, as usual. Before we headed out to the family party, Ella brought me the last sunflower (the deer ate them ALL).

We then headed out for a fun family party at the pool. We really had a great time! My FIL took these pics, thanks! The boys were here too, there just weren’t any good pics….

Ryan and his brothers jumping in the pool. Ella was so excited about jumping in, she did it over and over and over and over and over and ….well, you get the point.

Sylvie finally got brave at the end of the night and started jumping. I was so proud!

We celebrated family birthdays and Ella got this cool book and a matching umbrella that she loves. She also got a swimming pool kit!! YEAH!

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Ryan started out the new week with an out of town overnight trip. His new job has been such a blessing but they’re a bit understaffed so he’s been working extra hard. He’s happy to do it though. He’s really enjoying his new line of work. We are so blessed!

Dade also headed out around 5 am to his week long Scout Camp! Since we were on our own, we had a nice day just hanging out and having fun.

Ella LOVES to line things up. She’ll work forever getting every last toy lined up just perfectly. She was so proud! I made “fancy” waffles and hung out all day with my sweepin’ slippers on. That way I can feel like I’m getting some work done while I go back and forth to the freezer for cookie dough….

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I was also blessed this week with some time to get some good reading in. I LOVE TO READ!!!!

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Wednesday I decided to shake things up a bit and made some fancy-shmancy pancakes for the kids. I’d visited Jim’s Pancakes blog and figured I could probably do that!

We rounded the day out with a picnic and time in our pool….our really cool pool Ella got for her birthday!

We ended our fun day with a family trip to Cici’s and fun at scouts.

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I came home from sewing tonight at church (I learned how to do a french seam….) and realized….

Sylvie has been potty training for OVER a MONTH! AARRGGHH!!! I’m about ready for diapers again….

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Dade finally made it home from camp at almost midnight but it was so nice to have him home. His voice was deeper, as is usual when returning from these sorts of things. It apparently drops when he’s exhausted. Before he got home I got some much needed time with Corben. It was so nice….

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Saturday was wonderful. It started with Spaghetti pancakes and many more that didn’t get documented, just eaten.

I spent a lot of time talking to Ryan today. We actually had about an hour discussion on salads. I’m still really wanting to be able to order something at a restaurant. Inspired, he went out and bought me some new things to try. He’d already brought home an alfredo sauce for us all to try and, can you believe it?, Ryan hated it and everyone else LOVED it. It was so funny. I ended up trying an american salad with some ceaser dressing and then some ranch. Though I can handle a finger tip taste of ceaser, apparently I can’t eat more than that, especially with leafy greens. YUCK. The ranch on lettuce was “a little” better. Maybe that will have to be my eventual route.

It rained today. I LOVE the rain. LOVE IT. It makes me feel so peaceful.

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Sunday, MY PRIMARY KIDS ROCKED!! They all came an hour early to church to practice singing with the choir and they nailed it! Everyone was telling me how amazing they did and how it was their best singing yet. I’m so proud of them!!

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OK, I' know I’m a bit behind but I’m catching up!! Stay tuned for the SchnegelWagon video….it’s coming SOON….very soon. Maybe even tonight…maybe.